I'm currently looking into (image based) backup solutions for Windows (XP, Win7).
One problem I have is that I'm not sure how to verify that the backups can really, actually, reliably be restored without trying to restore it.
So I though I might set up a Virtual Box VM and then boot with the rescue media created by the image based backup tool and restore the image into the VM machine.
Does this make sense? Is it doable?
Note: I know that some tools have the ability to create a VM image/disk directly. That's not what I need. I want to test the actual restore process within a VM.
For me, the most important thing about a backup is that I know that restore will work flawlessly. I only know this if I have done it, and the VM testing solution sounds like a good one.
Update: I tried it and the restore to virtual did work. (After allocating a virtual disk that was larger than the full disk I backed up, not only larger than the used space I backed up.) I have not yet been able to start it (because of GRUB in the MBR), but I should be able to figure this out.
The question I'm asking myself now is: Will it run? Or not? Or what?